In addition to this positive defense of theistic belief, plantinga also aims to undermine the most widely cited argument against theistic belief, the socalled argument from evil, in god, freedom, and evil. He is well known in christian and secular philosophical circles for his logical skills, his. Alvin plantingas god, freedom, and evil a paper submitted to dr. They presuppose that god has a nature, that he is sovereign, and that there are necessary truths over which he has no control. Alvin plantinga is held by many to be the greatest living christian philosopher, and has made immense contributions to various areas of. Kroon 1 international journal for philosophy of religion volume 12, pages 75 96 1981 cite this article. Eerdmanspublishing company copyright 1974 by alvin plantinga. God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga free download as pdf file. God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga, hardcover barnes. Eerdmans 1978 authors alvin plantinga university of notre dame abstract this book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central themes of religion. Kevin timpe university of san diegoa classic work in the philosophy of religion, plantingas god, freedom, and evil is the single most influential text on the problem of.
Kroon and others published plantinga on god, freedom, and evil find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. If the existence of morally perfect persons is logically possible, why didnt god actualize these persons. Alvin plantinga is one of the top christian philosophers in the world today. At only 112 pages of normal paperback format, god,freedom, and evil is a small book, but still fairly heavy reading. Plantinga s argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as formulated by the philosopher j.
Alvin plantinga, gods philosopher 3 he resolved to become a philosopher. God, freedom and evil, proved even more consequential, as it dealt with the oftheard objection that a good god is incompatible with a world filled with evil. It is really just the assertion that a maximally great being is not possible, and thus merely an assertion to the effect that plantingas first and key premise is false. In brief, plantinga responds to the argument by showing that in a world with free creatures. Davis claremont mckenna college alvin plantinga is one of the top christian philosophers in the world today. God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga, hardcover.
If this is even possibly false, then god and evil are not logically incompatible using mackies argument, anyway. Nonmoral evil and the free will defense kenneth boyce paradigmatic examples of logical arguments from evil are attempts to estab lish that the following claims are inconsistent with one another. Ap spends the first section of the book attempting to demonstrate an inconsistency between the two premises. The book draws upon the authors prior works, the nature of necessity and god and other minds. Plantinga claims to have shown that 5 is indeed possibly false, in what he calls the free will defense. That, in brief, is alvin plantingas free will defense. What is alvin plantinga s view on divine sovereignty and free will.
God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga philosophical theories. Plantinga employs to make his account of the proper basicality of theistic belief more plausible. Nov 10, 2014 how could god be both allpowerful and allgood. Plantinga attempts to resolve it by denying gods aseity. Harry gensler john carroll universitya witty and logical introduction to the groundbreaking work of alvin plantinga, who has done more than anyone else to restore in analytic circles the respectability of belief in god. The god of the old testament is arguably the most unpleasant. Download god, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga ebook. There are at least two conditions that must be met for it to succeed. Alvin plantinga s freewill defense is a logical argument developed by the american analytic philosopher alvin plantinga and published in its final version in his 1977 book god, freedom, and evil.
Auto suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. Alvin plantingas masterful achievement william doino jr. Plantinga is widely known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics and christian apologetics. God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga details trove. God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga qvnd66ryxw4x idocpub. The problem in this and the following chapter i wish to apply some of the foregoing ideas to. The logical problem of evil is most poignantly presented in j. Obrien professor of philosophy emeritus at the university of notre dame and the inaugural holder of the jellema chair in philosophy at calvin college. A classic work in the philosophy of religion, plantingas god, freedom, and evil is the single most influential text on the problem of evil in the past fifty years. Philosophers of religion offer defenses no logical contradiction between evil and god s existence and theodicies complete systems explaining. On the one hand, that is gratifying for the theistthis was for centuries the go to argument for the atheologian.
God, freedom, and evil society of evangelical arminians. What is alvin plantingas view on divine sovereignty and. Contrary to stereotypes, this did not make young alvin a bookish nerd indeed, he was an enthusiastic participant in high school football, basketball and tennis. Thomas aquinas on god and evil by brian davies oxford university. Philosophical reflection which is not much different from just thinking hard on these themes has a long history. Plantinga s only goal is to solve the logical problem of evil, not the evidential one, in other words, to say that its logically possible for god and evil to coexist, not that there is good reason to think they do. The truth of the matter, i believe, is that the proponents of the dds never intended it to be an answer to the questions which concern plantinga in does god have a nature. The bulk of plantingas discussion is an attempt to show the unsoundness of an argument constructed by nelson pike to establish the inconsistency of a certain version of the. Reassessing plantingas ontological argument for god. According to plantingas version of the freewill argument fwa, the existence of free beings in the world who, on the whole, do more good than evil is the greater moral good that cannot be. Plantingas free will defense argues that it is possible that god, though omnipotent, could not have. Reason and belief in god alvin plantinga belief in god is the heart and center of the christian religion as it is of judaism and islam. God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga, 1977 online.
God and other minds is a 1967 book by the american philosopher of religion alvin plantinga which rekindled philosophical debate on the existence of god in angloamerican philosophical circles by arguing that belief in god was like belief in other minds. Read the fulltext online edition of god, freedom, and evil 1977. If god might face a choice in which some world with such fallible beings is better than any world without them, then, plantinga concludes, it is possible that god coexists with evil. What is alvin plantingas view on divine sovereignty and free. Although plantinga cannot remember ever not having been convinced. The bulk of plantingas discussion is an attempt to show the unsoundness of an argument constructed by nelson pike to establish the inconsistency of a certain version of the doctrine of divine foreknowledge with the. This book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central. The argument from evil aims to show that the existence of god and the existence of evil are logically incompatible. He spent nineteen years as a professor at calvin college, then eighteen years at the university of notre dame, and returned to calvin college in 2010. What is the force of plantingas properly basic belief argument without the popularity of belief in god. In this book, god, freedom, and evil, plantinga analyzes several mainline arguments of both natural theology and natural atheology.
Kevin timpe university of san diegoa classic work in the philosophy of religion, plantingas god, freedom, and evil is the single most influential text on the problem of evil in the past fifty years. Plantinga s defence and his theodicy are incompatible. Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. In his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural atheology arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief plantinga focuses on two of the traditional arguments. Basic conditions of life as tb 181 i of harper torchbooks. God, freedom and evil is a short work, originally published in the mid1970s, wherein plantinga addresses issues pertaining to the existence of god. Plantinga argues that belief in god can, like perceptual or memory belief, be properly basic. I, on the other hand, propose to take the analogy seriously, and argue that the analogy undermines plantingas case that belief in god can be properly basic. Kevin timpe university of san diegoa classic work in the philosophy of religion, plantingas god, freedom, and evil is the single most influential text on the. Philosophers of religion offer defenses no logical contradiction between evil and gods existence and theodicies complete systems explaining. Alvin plantinga, one of the brightest and most effective christian philosophers today, offers some interesting reasons why there is no logical incompatibility between the existence of evil.
Lewis is great but you should be reading alvin plantinga. In his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural atheology arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief. Plantinga, summarizing his earlier work in the nature of necessity and god and other minds, demonstrates that the theist does not face a contradiction in a asserting god exists and b evil exists. The philosophical quarterly 61 georgetown university. Alvin plantinga, god, freedom, and evil philpapers. Alvin plantinga is one of the worlds top christian philosophers. Plantinga on foreknowledge and freedom springerlink. God, freedom and evil by alvin plantinga 1 dec 1974 paperback on. Plantinga thinks it likely that if there is a god, he wants us to know him, and has given us a way of knowing him.
One of his most popular works is god, freedom, and evil, which, unlike many of his more scholarly works, is simplified for the laypersons reading. In the reformed objection to natural theology, plantinga explains the basics of reformed epistemology. What is alvin plantingas view on divine sovereignty and free will. In god, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga ap attempts to rebut the logical problem of evil i, which posits that the following two propositions i are inconsistent. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them.
Freedom, and evil, alvin plantinga undertakes to refute some arguments intended to prove that divine foreknowledge and human freedom are logically inconsistent. Alvin plantinga in his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural. Alvin carl plantinga is an american analytic philosopher, the john a. Nov 30, 1973 at only 112 pages of normal paperback format, god,freedom, and evil is a small book, but still fairly heavy reading. Mackie argued that the existence of evil and the existence of an allgood, allpowerful god are logically incompatible. He argues that a belief in god can be rational without proofs of gods existence. Of course christians may disagree, at least in emphasis, as to how to think of god. But for this to be so, there must not be even a possible morally justifying reason for god to permit evil this post. In his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural atheology arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief plantinga. The free will defense, however, shows that the existence of god is compatible, both logically and probabilistically, with the existence of evil. Basically, plantingas argument looks at the how god in possible worlds is necessary and uses this.
David basinger 1982 philosophy research archives 8. Jun 28, 2014 god, freedom, and evil is a fascinating book, and one that anyone interested in the problem of evil should read. Eerdmans 1978 authors alvin plantinga university of notre dame. Publication date 1977 topics god, good and evil, theodicy publisher. Rhyne putman of the new orleans baptist theological seminary in. Several writers use the word god very broadly to include belief in any unseen spiritual agencies. Mar 08, 2018 one of his most popular works is god, freedom, and evil, which, unlike many of his more scholarly works, is simplified for the laypersons reading. Plantingas only goal is to solve the logical problem of evil, not the evidential one, in other words, to say that its logically possible for god and evil to. I will begin with the briefest sketch of plantingas view. As far as i can tell, it does successfully undermine the logical problem of evil.
Following calvin, plantinga postulates a kind of faculty or a. Plantingas argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as formulated by the philosopher j. Basically, plantinga s argument looks at the how god in possible worlds is necessary and uses this. Alvin plantingas the reformed objection to natural. Some have called alvin plantinga this, and, whether you agree with him or not, the title is certainly warranted. This book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central themes of religion. In the first half on natural atheology, he addresses the socalled problem of evil, while part 2 addresses very briefly aquinas cosmological argument and paleys teleological argument, followed by a more indepth look at anselms ontological argument. Plantinga responded by asserting that this argument presumes, but does not establish, a contradiction between god and the existence of evil. For a critical account of verificationism see plantinga, god and other minds, chap. But the nomaximality premise of the rival to plantingas ontological argument seems in no relevant way different from nu. A critique of the free will defense, a comprehensive look at alvin. This was my first plantinga book, but it appears to be a condensing and refocusing of some of his larger works as he points readers in search of fuller explanation to these other works in various footnotes. Is alvin plantinga arguing gods existence based on. Alvin plantingas freewill defense is a logical argument developed by the american analytic philosopher alvin plantinga and published in its final version in his 1977 book god, freedom, and evil.
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